He came forward, extending his hand. “Mr. Barry Cumberland, I hope you and I will be friends, as your father and I have been for many years.” Half attracted, half repelled, Barry took the extended hand--and experienced a mighty grip, which greatly reassured him. He smiled. “You can be sure of it, Mr.--I beg your pardon--Danbazzar,” he returned. “I heard voices. That was why I came in.” Danbazzar inclined his head graciously and placed a chair. “Perhaps you would like to sit here?” he said. “We are discussing a matter upon which I think your father would welcome your views.” Barry sat down, and: “Is that so, Dad?” he asked. “What’s the big argument?” “There’s no argument, Barry,” was the reply; “there isn’t room for any. It’s a proposition, and it’s up to me to say Yes or No.” “Precisely,” Danbazzar murmured; and resumed his seat upon the corner of the library table. He had an odd trick of tensing and then relaxing his lips. He did it now, looking from the older to the younger man. Then, from a box upon the table, he selected a cigarette, lighted it, and reflectively blew a puff of smoke toward the dancers and other ladies of Pharaoh’s golden court displayed upon the wall above him. Barry, his mind full of his own affairs, settled down rather reluctantly to listen. “I am afraid this is going to be right over my head,” he confessed. “But it’s bound to be interesting, so fire away. What is it all about?” Danbazzar waved his cigarette in the direction of John Cumberland, and the latter, smiling, replied: “It’s a deal in Egyptian antiquities, Barry, as no doubt you surmise. But in a new kind of antiquity--different from any Danbazzar has ever offered me before; different in every way.” “You are right,” boomed the deep voice. “No such proposition has been made to any living man, I should guess, since the days of Rameses the Ninth.” Danbazzar imparted a quality of awe to this extraordinary statement which was not without its effect upon Barry. He found himself studying the large, well-shaped hand holding a lighted cigarette and discovered a curious fascination in a little scarab ring on the fourth finger. As one does upon meeting a man of whom one has heard much, he endeavoured to sum up his impressions of Danbazzar and to compare the result with what he had hitherto learned about him.